Utah Ski Team Opens 2019 Season

Wednesday, January 9

Nederland, CO

All Day

University of Utah

Giant Slalom

Ski Banner Engel, Mohagen, Riksaasen, Jordheim

1/7/2019 9:12 AM | Skiing

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah ski team opens its 2019 season on Wednesday, Jan. 9, with an RMISA giant slalom qualifier, with the first meet of the season beginning on Thursday, Jan. 10 with the Colorado Invitational.

The RMISA giant slalom qualifier does not count towards any team scoring and is used as an extra opportunity for skiers to earn qualification points for the NCAA Championships at the end of the season. The Colorado Invitational begins with the giant slalom, followed by the slalom race on Friday. On Friday evening, an exhibition dual slalom race will be held, which does not count towards any team scoring. The Nordic portion of the meet begins on Saturday, Jan. 12, with the women's 5-km and men's 10-km freestyle races with the men's and women's 10-km classic races on Sunday, Jan. 13.

The alpine races will be held at Eldora Mountain Resort with the Nordic races in Steamboat Springs, Colo.

The Utes head into the 2019 season with a strong mix of returners and newcomers who look to help the Utes retain their place among the top teams in NCAA skiing. One of the biggest changes is at the top as Fredrik Landstedt takes over as Director of Skiing. Landstedt brings 26 years of collegiate coaching experience to the Utes. He spent the past 21 seasons at New Mexico, including 11 years as head coach, and helped New Mexico win the 2004 NCAA Championship. He also coached seven student-athletes to individual NCAA Championships.

Utah also has new head Nordic and alpine coaches. Two-time NCAA champion Miles Havlick returns to his alma mater to coach the Nordic team. Havlick was a seven-time All-American during his four-year Utah career (2010-13). The alpiners will be led by JJ Johnson, who joins the Utes from coaching the men's development team with the U.S. Ski Team.

Nordic

The women's team returns all three skiers who competed at the NCAA Championships last season, including All-Americans Guro Jordheim and Mariah Bredal. Jordheim, who finished fourth at NCAA's in both the 5-km classic and 15-km freestyle last season, was the 2018 RMISA women's Nordic Athlete of the Year and RMISA women's Nordic MVP. She led the league with seven race wins and 10 podium finishes last season. In her third season at Utah, Jordheim is a four-time All-American. Bredal earned All-America honors in her first season last year with a seventh-place finish in the 5-km classic at NCAA's. She had eight top-10 finishes in 2018.

Leah Lange also competed in her first NCAA Championships last season. Her best finish came in the 5-km classic at the RMISA Championships, placing second for her first career podium finish. Lange had four top-10 finishes last year. Karianne Moe returns for her second season at Utah after recording five top-15 finishes last year.

Julia Richter joins the Utes after spending last season with the German National Team. She placed 24^th in the sprint at the 2018 U23 World Ski Championships.

On the men's side, Bjørn Riksaasen had eight top-10 finishes and competed at NCAA's last year. His season-best finish was fourth twice, in the 10-km classic at the RMISA Championship and the 10-km classic at the Utah Invite. Logan Diekmann had five top-10 finishes last year, including a season-best sixth-place finish in the sprint freestyle at U.S. Nationals. Jacob Engström has three career top-10 finishes, with a career-best seventh place finish in the sprint freestyle at the Seawolf Invite in 2017.

Three newcomers join the men's team, including two from Norway. Maximilian Bie had a best finish of 36^th in the 15-km classic at the 2017 Norwegian National Championships. Ola Jordheim joins sister Guro on the Utes. He finished 31^st in the 50-km freestyle at the 2018 Norwegian National Championships. American Noel Keeffe, who hails from Steamboat Springs, was the 2018 junior national champion in the U20 freestyle sprints, finished second in the 10-km classic and was on the team that finished third in the 3x3.3-km relay at the U.S. Junior National Championships.

Alpine

In men's alpine, Mark Engel rejoins the Utes after spending the past four seasons with the U.S. Ski Team, including competing in the 2018 Olympics. He was the 2014 NCAA giant slalom champion in his only year at Utah. Engel is currently ranked 31^st in the world in the FIS points in the slalom. Huston Philp earned All-America honors last year in the giant slalom. He had five top-10 finishes in his first season at Utah. Linus Walch competed at the NCAA Championships last season and finished 12^th in the giant slalom. He had four top-10 finishes last year. Dominic Demschar returns to the Utes after taking a year off to compete in the Olympics. He is a two-time first-team All-RMISA skier and has three career podium finishes with a win in 2015.

Martin Grasic has two top-10 finishes and 16 top-15 finishes over three seasons at Utah. Ty Sprock is in his third season at Utah and has one career podium finish (third place in the giant slalom at the 2016 Utah Invitational). Fredrik Maurstad did not compete last season due to injury. He competed at the NCAA Championships at Colby-Sawyer College in 2017.

In addition to the return of Engel and Demschar, the Utes add three newcomers to the men's team. Addison Dvoracek transfers to Utah from Montana State. He earned All-America honors in the giant slalom in 2017 and has two career wins. Argentinian Tomas Birkner de Miguel competed in the 2017 and 2015 FIS World Championships with a best finish of 35th in the slalom in 2015. He has made several World Cup starts. Joachim Bakken Lien was the 2018 Norwegian junior national giant slalom champion. He finished 10^th in the giant slalom at the 2018 Norwegian National Championships.

For the women, Roni Remme returns to Utah after taking 2018 away to compete in the Olympics and on the World Cup circuit. A three-time All-American, she has two career wins and six career podium finishes. Remme is ranked 28^th in the latest slalom FIS points and has several strong finishes in World Cup this season. Julie Mohagen won the 2016 NCAA slalom title and is a two-time All-American over three seasons with the Utes. She has four career wins and 10 career podium finishes.

Kristine Aasberg transfers to Utah from Denver. She won three races and finished on the podium four times in 2018.

Three skiers are new to collegiate racing. Eirin Engeset regularly finished in the top 10 at the Norwegian National Championships with best finishes of fourth in the slalom in 2017 and in the giant slalom in 2018. Australian Katie Parker, who attends the Sugar Bowl Academy, finished sixth in the Super G at the 2018 U.S. National Junior Championships. Katie Vesterstein, who attends Rowmark Ski Academy, finished 12^th in alpine combined and 19^th in the Super G at the 2018 U.S. National Championships.